Monthly Archives: March 2017

If you are a landlord then you may be interested in reading that, according to the Countywide Lettings Index for February 2017, there has been a modest drop in rental income last month on new let residential properties. This is the first reduction that has been seen since going back to November 2010 – more than 6 years ago. Over the last 12 months, up to February 2017, rental charged in Great Britain has fallen by an average of £5 per month with this equating to a drop of 0.6%. The average amount being charged in rent was £921 a month. It is the change in the amount being charged by landlords in London and the South East that has resulted in the average rental income dropping last month. In London rental income fell by 4.7% on a property that has been newly let out and in the South East the same sort of rental property has seen a fall in rental income of 2.6%. In all other parts of Great Britain rental income has risen in the twelve months to February of this year. In fact, the average increase in rent outside London was 0.8% for that period. Whilst…

There are a number of reasons why many landlords choose to utilise the services of a letting agent rather than deal with everything themselves as it can be very time consuming especially if the landlord has a full time job which they often do. For instance: – Landlords regularly use letting agents to market their properties to find suitable tenants rather than say advertise the property in the local press themselves. No doubt using a letting agent in this way can often result in a tenant being found more quickly resulting in rental income being generated more rapidly. Having identified a potential tenant, the letting agent could then deal with the administration including taking up references on the potential tenant and sorting out the tenancy agreement prior to the new tenant occupying the property. A letting agent could also arrange to manage things by, for instance, visiting the property on a regular basis to make sure that it is being well maintained and carrying out an inventory of the contents, fixtures and fittings. This is a particularly important service as, unfortunately, there are some tenants who do not look after the property and its contents as they should do to…